Yuvraj And Ash: Cyberspace Celebrity Threats

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Bollywood beauty Aishwariya Rai have overtaken

Katrina Kaif as the most dangerous Indian celebrity to search in cyberspace,

according to Internet security company McAfee. For the second time in a row,

McAfee researched India's glamorous celebrities from the world of cinema,

cricket and politics to reveal the riskiest celebrities on the Web.

Fans searching for 'Yuvraj Singh downloads' or 'Yuvaraj Singh wallpapers,'

'Yuvraj Singh photos,' 'Aishwariya Rai wallpapers', 'Aishwariya Rai screen

savers' and 'Aishwariya Rai videos' have a one-in-five chance of landing at a

website that's tested positive for online threats, such as spyware, adware,

spam, phishing, viruses and other malware. Searching for the latest celebrity

news and down­loads can cause serious damage to one's personal computer.

Cricketers MS Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh rank third and sixth in the list

giving some serious competition to our B-town celebrities to grab the most

dangerous web-celeb title. It only proves the point that the successful and

controversial stars are hot favorites amongst criminals of the Internet. Young

Bollywood siren (and popular tabloid subjects) Namitha and Shriya Saran edged

out stars like Katrina Kaif. Namitha maintained her position consistently among

the top five riskiest celebrities to search on the web.

McAfee compiled its second annual list using McAfee SiteAdvisor technology

for celebrity names that produce the largest number of risky sites and overall

risk percentage, when searched on the Web. “Cricket and Bolly­wood are two

subjects about which every Indian is passionate about. It is no surprise that

cybercriminals capitalize on celebrities from the world of sports and cinema to

lure innocent fans to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise,”

said Kartik Shahani, Regional Director, McAfee India. “Its very common for

malware authors to take advantage of current hot topics luring consumers to

malicious websites they created. Users need to be cautious and should keep their

antivirus/ security software updated with the latest versions,” he added.

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